Food philosopher Alice Waters brings Denver a message: slow down

Quimoi Blake 10 years-old hands a plate of tamales to Kendell Antonelli for her table as more than 500 people attended The Edible Schoolyard Project luncheon with special guest Alice Waters, a famous restaurant owner, chef and author at Civic Center Park on July 14, 2017. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Alice Waters is a food muse for many.

The renowned chef, restaurateur, author and winner of multiple James Beard Awards is perhaps best known for her Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, Calif. Or maybe it’s her multiple cookbooks. Or it could be Edible Schoolyard Project, an organization she founded in 1995 to advocate for quality school lunches.

She’s a busy woman who isn’t slowing down — though this weekend, she is slowing down enough to serve as a speaker at Slow Food Nations in Denver.

Slow Food Nations was started by Carlo Petrini in 1989 to fight the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions. The organization hosts a biennial Terra Madre gathering in Turin, Italy, that can draw hundreds of thousands of people.

The Slow Food Nations festival in Denver this weekend draws from its Italian mother, hosting people and foods from multiple nations (though technically, the first event was held in 2008 in San Francisco). Organizers have revived the event in Denver and hope to keep it in the Mile High City for years to come.

Organizers expect 20,000 attendees over three days. Roughly 550 delegates from 20 countries will be attending. Waters held a lunch Friday and will be at Tattered Cover in LoDo to talk about her 2015 book, “My Pantry: Homemade Ingredients That Make Simple Meals Your Own” on Saturday from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Waters will be at Gardens Galore, an event at Metro State University from 12:30 to 2 p.m.

Waters spoke with The Denver Post on the phone ahead of Slow Food Nation, which runs through Sunday. She discussed what slow food means, why school lunches are so important and the impact of fast food culture on American culture.

Alice Waters, a famous restaurant owner, chef and author looks on as more than 500 people attend The Edible Schoolyard Project luncheon on July 14, 2017 at Civic Center Park in Denver. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Denver Post:How did you first get into the cooking world?

Alice Waters: Oh goodness. [laughs] That goes back quite a ways. I went to France when I was 19 and I just lived there for a year and it was when France was a slow food nation. It was before there was any kind of fast food there. It was when people took two hours to have lunch with their children, and they went to the market every day twice a day because they wanted fresher food in the afternoon.

I was supposed to be studying French and I never went to class. I was so fascinated by it. I actually took a class on French culture. I went to the museums — and they always had inexpensive tickets for students — and concerts, and ate at little restaurants with my friends, and it was really revelatory to me, and when I came home, I wanted to live like the French.

And that’s what I’ve been trying to do for 46 years.

Q:What is slow food compared to going to a fast food restaurant and grabbing a burger? What’s the difference?

A: Well, there’s a big difference. It’s really about a set of values, that you want to support the people who take care of the land because that’s where your food comes from, so you want to eat with determination, you want to find out where the food comes from, and you want to connect in that way.

I mean, we’ve lost our human values because the fast food values have been educating us and indoctrinating us basically since childhood, and their values are very different. More is better. Everything should be fast, cheap and easy. Cooking is drudgery, farming is drudgery. Advertising confers value. Time is money.

All of those values are the opposite of what we believe are human values, slow food values — where you’re trying to connect to nature, eat in season, eat around the table, learn to share around the table. These are ideas we’ve lost, and they’re really dramatically changing our world.

Q:Your focus lately has been on school lunches. Why is that an area that needs more attention?

A: Oh my gosh, a lot more attention? It needs complete attention. When one in three kids could have diabetes, that would be a panic in my mind. When there are so many children who are hungry. Just that alone would be reason to do this. But many many other reasons.

We’re in an environmental crisis, and we need to learn about where our food comes from so that we can protect that environment. Children get that immediately. They know that nature is their mother and they want to be part of it. But they’ve been told by the fast food culture that it’s scary out there in the woods and if you go, make sure you take all of this equipment and all of the food with you. It’s just a whole different idea about nature and it’s beauty and meaning.

I’m just hoping we can come back to our senses through a school lunch that allows the time and attention for students to focus on what they’re eating and connect with the people with whom they’re eating.

Q: Where do you think we are on that journey?

A: We’re at a crisis point. When 85 percent of the kids in this country don’t have one meal with the family, we are losing our culture. We’re losing it. We’re losing it to an iPhone, a television, a movie, a whatever.

We’re not eating at the table and learning how to pass the peas. We’re not doing this. We’re not talking with each other. We’re not connecting. And this is what community is all about. It’s what family is about. And I think we’re seeing the results of it.

Q:Do you see any positive trends starting to occur?

A: Oh, I think there are. I think there are wonderful things happening. But we don’t know about them. We don’t know about all the young people who are deciding that instead of going to work in New York, they want to go start a farm. That’s pretty striking, and I know many many people who have made that decision.

The farmer’s markets are thriving in this country. We have one that’s within 10 minutes of my house every day in the Bay Area but that’s happening across the country. And that’s supporting all the people working on the land. It really influences the next generation to be able to shop like that and connect with the farmers. You become their advocates and you even start thinking about becoming a farmer.

Also, farm-to-restaurant restaurants around the country. I think the idea that people want to start small restaurants rather than big ones is really a hopeful sign. Where they want them to be family restaurants and those are the kind of restaurants where I ate in France. I love them. The husband and wife would be there. The kid would be some place running around. One of the two would take the child home. The rest would finish up. I felt so comfortable in those places. And I think that’s happening again.

Q:You’re going to be at Tattered Cover talking about your book on Saturday. I was wondering, how do you go about writing a cookbook?

A: I do it with a lot of people. A lot of people. So I’m out all the time, trying to think of an idea and I’m just kind of canvassing everybody I know and asking them how they cooked the kale or how they make the Brussels sprouts.

I find the person who can illustrate it really well. I have somebody who tests the recipes. I have someone who writes narratively really well. And somebody who’s very good at organization. We do it as a whole group.

Every time we do a book, I feel like we’re learning new things and we’re adding them to the philosophy of food. You may have seen the same recipe in a number of books, but we’re perfecting it if you will. We’re working on it. Food is a living thing. You’re just always coming to it with beginner’s mind. We don’t rely on recipes in that way at the restaurant. We just come in and talk about it.

Alice Waters and Rick Bayless at the Tattered Cover in LoDo, 1628 16th St. 2:30-4 p.m. Saturday. Free. tatteredcover.com. Waters also will speak at other Slow Food Nations events throughout the weekend; check the schedule at slowfoodnations.org.